CALM Community Convos:
Fort Worth, Texas
Living Mindfully and Healthfully in Conversation with Urban Greenspaces and Community
The CALM Community Convos initiative is a collaborative partnership between TCU CALM Studies and The Mind Body Ecology Institute (501c3) in Fort Worth.
The program is designed to support individuals across the greater Fort Worth community in finding balance, clarity, and connection through nature-based mindfulness, forest bathing, and meaningful conversation.
Community Convos creates intentional, small-group opportunities for personal growth and wellness. The program also raises awareness of the value of greenspaces for promoting well-being and resilient urban living. Greater awareness and appreciation of green spaces in urban areas reciprocally increases engagement with healthy outdoor activities and community appreciation for innovative urban design and development.
In these ways, Community Convos synergizes with Fort Worth’s exciting new GREENPrint project, particularly two of their central goals:
Stronger emphasis on living with nature to extend the benefits of the local ecosystem citywide.
Ushering in a new era of programming that fosters engagement, connection and activation across public spaces.
For a flourishing Fort Worth!
The initiative includes regular weekly 60-90 minute sessions focused on conversations with our trained facilitators that blend nature walks, deep listening, and evidence-based mindfulness practices.[1]
Sessions will be available in accessible locations at community greenspaces such as the Trinity Trails, Botanic Gardens, Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge, and other sites around Fort Worth.
MBEI and TCU CALM Studies are a natural collaboration given their aligned missions, a strong network of local community connections, participant base, and foundation in evidence-based, trauma-informed facilitation modalities.
The program will be open anyone age 21+ seeking support, connection, and/or tools to live more mindfully and healthfully.
Our Shared Challenges
Given the dramatic rise in feelings of loneliness, social isolation, and anxiety globally, we see our work as helping to create the conditions in which all people can flourish.
Drivers of these challenges include
Overwhelm: Rapid societal change and the stress associated with climate change.
Distraction: Compromised attention and mental health from factors such as excessive social media use and information overload.
Disconnection: Isolation from community, nature, and ancestral traditions, leading to increased mental health challenges.
Sustainability science professor Christine Wamsler at the Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies writes,
“These challenges reflect an inner human crisis of disconnection or separation from self, others, and nature, grounded in our modern industrialized society's social paradigms and worldviews.”[2]
Research that she and others have conducted indicates that the relationship between our minds and today’s sustainability challenges can be understood in three ways:
our minds are a victim of these crises,
they can act as barriers to effective action, and
they can be key contributors to the root causes of these issues. This creates a harmful cycle that undermines individual, collective, and planetary well-being.[3]
Our Response
The collaborative approach of Community Convos takes innovative steps in addressing the pressing questions, needs, and problems associated with mental health as well as social inequity and environmental degradation.
We addresses these challenges by turning attention to the inner landscapes of people’s lives, namely, our worldviews, values, cognitive and behavioral patterns, interpersonal relationship dynamics, and personal connections with urban green spaces.
Through nature-based education, community building, and evidence-based experiential practice, we support individuals in cultivating the inner awareness and skills needed to engage with the world wisely, responsibly, and compassionately. We believe this inner-to-outer personal growth and connection is one of the greatest gifts we can offer to our children, communities, and the planet.
The program offers what Peter Wayne at the Osher Center for Integrative Health at the Harvard University Medical School describes as “thinking globally, acting extremely locally.”
We believe this inner-to-outer personal growth and connection is one of the greatest gifts we can offer to our children, communities, and the planet.
The work of TCU CALM Studies and the Mind Body Ecology Institute inspires reverence for the preciousness of life in all its richness while promoting personal well-being, collective flourishing, and responsible eco living – a foundation that fosters opportunity, growth, and action.
Our flourishing future begins within and with the land!
Sources
[1] Generally based on work at the Center for Healthy Minds. Source: Kral, T.R. A., P. Kesebir, L. Redford, C. J. Dahl , C. D. Wilson-Mendenhall, M. J. Hirshberg, R. J. Davidson, R. Tatar, Healthy minds Index: A Brief Measure of the Core Dimensions of Well-being,” PLoS ONE 19.5 (2024).
R. Macaulay, K. Lee, K. Johnson, K. Williams, “Mindful engagement, psychological restoration, and connection with nature in constrained nature experiences,” Landscape and Urban Planning 217 (2022).
D. Djernis, I. Lerstrup, D. Poulsen, U. Stigsdotter, J. Dahlsgaard, M. O’Toole, “Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of nature-based mindfulness: effects of moving mindfulness training into an outdoor natural setting,” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 16 (2019).
[2] C. Wamsler, J. Bristow, “At the Intersection of Mind and Climate Change: Integrating Inner Dimensions of Climate Change into Policymaking and Practice,” Climactic Change 173 (2022).
[3] C. Wamsler, “Nurturing Inner Development and Sustainability,” presentation for Connected Consciousness for Planetary Health, Nova Institute for Health.